Everything about thirty-five-year-old Stone Acres hardware store owner Frank McCord is old-fashioned -- from his bow tie and overalls to the way he happily makes house calls. He dreams of lasting romance, true love, and marriage. Frank’s ancestors have run the store and been mainstays in the small California town for over a century. While genial Frank upholds tradition and earns the respect of friends and neighbors, he fears he’s too dull and old to attract a husband. Maybe it’s time to break out of his mold. Then handsome thirty-six-year-old electronic games designer Christopher Darling and his fifteen-year-old son, Henry, come into his life. Christopher has everything Frank could want in a potential partner: charm, kindness, and compatibility. Also, he’s a terrific father to Henry. When their Stone Acres home turns out to be uninhabitable, Frank offers the Darlings temporary lodging in his ancestral farmhouse, where he and his tenant Emil reside. Since Emil thinks Frank is his, sparks fly. Suddenly, Frank’s monotonous life promises to explode with love and change him forever.

Frank at Heart

Riley understood that I couldn’t work. He said he’d call me if anything came up, but otherwise he was fine with running the store while Christopher and I went to the mall.


While I conferred with Riley, Christopher called Abe and talked to him about the Adams-Scott House. On the drive out of town, Christopher said he needed to meet with Abe sometime in the afternoon, something about signing the agreement papers to start work.


I enjoyed buying clothes with a boyfriend much more than shopping with the boyfriend’s teenage son. We constantly snickered at each other because Christopher kept selecting shirts and pants closer to what I liked, and I was choosing stuff he usually wore. If we didn’t watch it, we agreed, we’d become clones. Maybe Henry would get us confused. We knew our laughter sounded hollow, but we soldiered on.


I’d just started to settle into the new status quo by afternoon when my world was hammered again.


Chapter 31